At Interior, we are committed to providing up-to-date information and resources to help you safely visit national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other federally managed lands and facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether seeking wide-open spaces or exploring a historic urban neighborhood, you should always recreate responsibly.
To protect yourself and others from COVID-19, follow the CDC’s guidance on visiting parks and recreational facilities.
Follow the tips below to stay safe and help us stop the spread of COVID-19:
We are following the CDC's guidance for fully vaccinated people.
We require everyone, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask inside federal buildings in areas of high community transmission. Use the table below to determine when you should wear a mask. To determine whether you are in an area of substantial or high community transmission, visit the CDC COVID Data Tracker website.
If |
Then |
---|---|
You are fully vaccinated, but you live in an area of substantial or high community transmission. |
Wear a mask. |
You are fully vaccinated, but masks are required by federal, state, local, Tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, regardless of the level of community transmission. |
Wear a mask. |
You are fully vaccinated, you do not live in an area of substantial or high community transmission, and masks are not required by federal, state, local, Tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations. |
You do not have to wear a mask in most situations. Follow CDC’s guidance for fully vaccinated people. |
You are fully vaccinated, but you want to use any form of public transportation or visit a healthcare facility, including on DOI lands. |
Wear a mask. |
You are not fully vaccinated. |
Wear a mask. |
We strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible. COVID-19 vaccines provide an opportunity to return to a more normal lifestyle, prevent severe illness, hospitalizations and death. COVID-19 vaccines reduce your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19. Currently, COVID-19 infections have been reported in a very small percentage of fully vaccinated adults. If you are unvaccinated, you should get vaccinated and, in the meantime, continue wearing a mask, maintain physical distance, and observe other COVID-19 health and safety protocols for unvaccinated individuals until you are fully vaccinated (two weeks past your second shot if you received the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) or Moderna vaccine or two weeks past your single Johnson & Johnson shot).
More than 200 million Americans have already received COVID-19 vaccines with a very low occurrence of any serious side effects. All COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be intensely monitored for safety. The more unvaccinated people there are, the greater the chance COVID-19 has to spread and mutate into more contagious variants that cause severe disease. COVID-19 vaccines are our best defense and are effective against current variants.
It is normal to have questions about the vaccines. We encourage you to find answers. Learn how you can find credible vaccine information, identify facts about COVID-19 vaccines and get answers to commonly asked questions about vaccinations.
To find a location to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, visit Vaccines.gov (or for information in Spanish, visit Vacunas.gov).
Our goal is to prioritize the health and safety of our workforce while sustaining the mission of the Department.
The Department of the Interior COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan serves as a framework for our implementation of the President’s Executive Order, Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memo 21-15 COVID-19 Safe Federal Workplace: Agency Model Safety Principles.
We continue to closely monitor and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are working with federal, state, local, Tribal and territorial governments, public health officials, health care providers, researchers and the public to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep our employees, visitors, partners and contractors safe. At every step, we are using the latest science to guide our decision-making.
The lead agencies coordinating the federal response to COVID-19 are the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Interior’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) supports this effort by planning and implementing Interior’s response.